"I said no, Emmaline," Emma's mother, Tamara says. "Do you know anything about Italy, Walter?" Tamara looks over at Emma's father.
"Only that they have good food," he says without looking up from his newspaper. "Emma, I think your mother is right."
"Your reason is, "I said so." That isn't a reason, Mom!" Emma crosses her arms over her chest. Emma's parents are accountants and are very overprotective after Emma's older brother died in a car crash, they wanted nothing to happen to their only child.
"Emma. I said no."
"Maybe I don't care about what you say."
"Maybe we'll take away your keys." Emma gasps. Her parents take away her cell phone, her television, her party privileges but never her 2005 GMC Sierra.
"That isn't fair, Tamara," Emma says in an adult voice to her mother. "I just need you to sign this slip saying I won't go." Emma hands her mother the permission slip.
"This says that you need permission from a parent or guardian before going to Venice!"
"Oh, is that what it says? Sign in anyway."
Her father looks up from his newspaper and turns around in his chair to face his only daughter.
"Emmaline Isabella Robinson," he starts. "We don't want another Brandon." This makes her mother sniffle.
"But Daddy," Emma sits on the recliner's armrest. "I am a whole lot more careful than Brandon was. It's only a week and a half. It's an educational trip, for crying out loud! I have to stick close to Mrs. O' Brien anyway and take another final! What else do you want me to go through?"
"Do not speak of your brother," Tamara finally says after seven tissues. "Just hand me your keys and go to your room."
"Not Brad!"
"Yes Brad. Hand them over."
"Fine!" Emma hands the keys to her mother and stomps downstairs.
"I'm gonna be telling all my friends what shitty parents you are!" Emma yells over her shoulder as she reaches the bottom of the basement stairs.
"Cell phone, right now!" A cell phone comes flying up the stairs and lands on the ground at the top of the stairs.
"I still have a computer!" But there was no reply.
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"I should've bet one million dollars that your parents weren't going to let you," Wilma says to Emma the next day at lunch. "They are still heartbroken over Brandon."
"Well, I don't know when they are going to get over him!" Emma takes a bite out of her apple. Brandon was Emma half brother. Her mother's son from a previous relationship. Her father loved him like a son whenever he was around. Emma never saw him much.
"You know he was your brother," Issy points out. "I'm really surprised your not heartbroken as well."
"I've gotten over it, it was six years ago," Emma counters. Mason sits down next to Emma holding a box.
"You got the stuff?" Emma asks him. Mason nods and peels off the tape of the outside of the box.
"Got what stuff?" Jackson asks. He feels left out not know his best friend's plans.
"I know that kit!" Isaac says, pointing at the object in Emma's hands. The kit was red and it contained a small flashlight, a sheet of thin, light blue paper and a green marker. Mason's cousin owns a joke shop, so he got this half off.
"Yup," Mason says. "Emma, you owe me twenty bucks."
"What the hell it that?" Issy asks. She leans in front of Isaac to see better.
"It's," Isaac pushes Issy out of the way. "You can copy signatures with it. My younger brother owns one and uses it to fake our doctor's signature to get out of gym class."
"So you're-" Wilma starts.
"Going to fake my mom's signature on the permission slip to Italy," Emma says like faking a signature is something she did everyday like brushing her teeth, or going to the bathroom.
"Emma!" Issy exclaims. "I bet that's illegal."
"I don't think so," Mason tells her. "It says on the box that they aren't responsible for the kit being used to replicate important documents and cannot be the subject of a lawsuit..... Totally legal." Mason laughs and there's a twinkle in his deep blue eyes.
"Here's how you do it."
Emma opens her backpack and takes out a letter. The letter is to a friend but her mother's signature is at the bottom or the piece of paper. She hands Mason the flashlight and presses the blue sheet of paper against the letter. With the pieces of paper pressed tightly against each other and Mason shining the flashlight underneath, Emma takes the green marker and scribbles thickly over the signature showing through onto the blue sheet. The signature is copied onto the blue paper in green and the rest of the ink wears away.
Jackson's mouth is wide open.
"How'd you do that?" He asks, the surprise still in his eyes.
"Magic," Emma jokes and makes fireworks with her hands. Her and Mason laugh.
"Now..." Mason takes the flashlight out from under the letter and Emma removes the two pieces of paper from each other. Emma lines up the signature on the blue sheet with the line on the permission slip for Tamara's signature.
Mason takes the flashlight and presses a button that makes the light from the flashlight change dramatically from a yellow to purple. He shines the purple light on top of the blue sheet and holds still. When Emma removes the paper, the signature is on the permission slip.
"But, it's green," Jackson points out.
"That's why," Isaac tells him. "The kit comes with invisible paint too."
"And how do you know all this?" Issy asks.
"I might have one at home..."
"Might?" Wilma stifles a laugh. "Our younger brother is into sports, not faking doctor signatures. He practically loves gym class." Wilma punches her brother in the shoulder and everyone copies her laugh.
Emma removes a little clear bottle with black liquid in it from the kit. The bottle was small and it had a cap just like a nail polish bottle. She brushes the cap brush over the green signature and it turned black automatically with no black excess on the sides.
"Now, all I have to do is turn this into Mrs. O' Brien and Italy, here I come!"
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"Alright class," Mrs. O' Brien tells her class. "If you have your permission slips for Italy, this is your last chance to turn them in."
Mrs. O' Brien looks around the class, there is a smirk playing on her lips. A hand shoots up in the second row.
"I have my permission slip, Mrs. O.B.," Emma waves the slip in her raised hand, a smirk also playing on her lips.
Mrs. O' Brien walks over to Emma and takes the slip out of her hands. "Better go buy dresses and heels. I'm not letting you walk around in a tank and sweatpants." Emma looks down at her clothes from Victoria Secret and crosses her arms over her chest.
Another hand shoots into the air from the first row, right in the teacher's pet seat.
"I thought you said only two hundred and fifty students were permitted to go to Italy," Cora "Perfect Cuticles" Evans had to speak up. "With Emmaline going, that's two hundred and fifty one." The whole class laughs at Emma's full name. Every snicker dampening her badass reputation. Cora's innocent smile makes Emma want to gag.
"And I thought you said that we were supposed to pick up all the trash from lunch," Emma counters. "It looks like you forgot some." Emma lets her eyes travel from Cora's cardigan to her Converse to prove her point.
This makes the class snicker even more. Two kids even laughed out loud. Cora jaw literally dropped to the floor. She looks to Mrs. O' Brien for help.
"Miss Robinson, that was uncalled for. Miss Evans, we can vouch for one more student to enjoy the rich and lively Italian culture."
Mrs. O' Brien launches into a speech on the vineyards and canals of Italy. Emma smiles proudly and gives Cora a little wave.
"That's where you belong," Emma whispers, pointing towards the trash bin next to the door.
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A/N
To be honest, this is my favorite chapter so far. I love the signature copying kit. Just to be clear, I made that up and a kit like that does not exist. (as far as I know) The romance is yet to come!
Did anyone notice the chapters are Italian numbers?
xoxpaigemadisont